A Change In Feelings?
by 13luckystars
Summary: Sterek. Derek figures out that Stiles really likes little kids, and figures out a way to use that to his advantage.
1. Chapter 1

One of the first things that Derek noticed about Stiles was that the younger male was really interested in babies and little kids. The first few times Stiles hung around Derek, there was always someone around them so there really wasn't any getting to know the teenager, but the first time that Scott ditched Stiles for Allison and him and Stiles were supposed to go to Derek's, Stiles began to talk a lot. First there was the nervous chatter that Derek quickly picked up on. Stiles talked about mundane things like the weather and politics and then went to homework and how much he hated Scott. Derek had tried not to feel bad because by Stiles repeating things along the lines of "Why would Scott ditch me for Allison?" or "I hate Scott so much for thinking about his dick before me", Derek kind of picked up on the fact that Stiles didn't like him all that much. It might have been too drastic of an assumption since Stiles didn't come out and say that Derek made him uncomfortable, but it was sort of obvious by the way Stiles complained. The second time that Scott had ditched Stiles, Stiles started talking about himself more and what he was interested in. He said that he liked being outside, so Derek decided that they would go for a walk. That had made Stiles insanely uncomfortable, meaning that he had started rambling about random things again, but Derek pressed on. For whatever reason the teenager intrigued him and he wanted to know more about him. Derek wasn't ready to think about what that meant, all he knew was he wanted to know Stiles.

"Dude, why are we going for a walk? I know that I said I like to be outside, but I meant in general. Not like I needed to be outside this minute. It's nice and all, being outside, that's why I like sports. And don't mind doing things like mowing the lawn. Because I'm outside. But I'm not much of a walker. Are you a walker? Of course you are, you run all the time. Why wouldn't you like to walk? Is walking or running more relaxing? I guess you would be able to think more either way, especially if you played music or something."

"Stiles," Derek said, after getting to the point where he was trying to keep too many thoughts in order so that he could comment on and answer all of Stiles thoughts and questions. "We are going for a walk because I don't like sitting inside all of the time. I know you meant it in general, I was going to go for a walk anyway." Lie. "I don't mind going walking even though I really would rather run. Walking is a little more peaceful since when I run I try to pace myself and there is no need to do that when I walk. When I'm walking there's no real destination, but when I run I have a goal in mind. Most people do that the other way, but I like being backwards."

Stiles nodded for a few seconds. No one had ever really tried to keep up with all his thoughts before and actually hold a conversation through his rambling, so he really wasn't sure what to do not. How to you reply to that? Obviously Derek could ramble with the best of them, so even rambling would be like regular conversation. And then he realized that he was even rambling about rambling, in his head.

"Stiles?" Derek said.

Stiles shook his head to clear his always confusing thoughts. He hadn't been paying attention so of course he just noticed that they were already in town. He didn't really know how far it was from Derek's house into town, it couldn't have been far he thought since Derek lived in an apartment complex, all he knew was there were all sorts of people around them now. All sorts of people that knew Stiles and knew Stiles was the Sheriff's son.

Derek thought that he should have gotten a reply by now, so if he wasn't getting one he probably wasn't going to get one. He looked at Stiles for a second, thinking about how he really had no clue why he thought the boy was so fascinating and why he wanted to know more about him, when he figured it out. Of course he had to be attracted to the boy; there was just no other explanation. His life was just full of things that were going to be upsets and downfalls, so why would his love life be any different?

He looked past the boy after he figured it out and looked to the people that were all around them now. There was no way he was even close to surprised about all the people. It was the middle of summer, teenagers were doing anything to get out of the house and away from their parents, little kids wanted to be outside so their parents took them out, and Derek and Stiles were getting close to the park where even more people would be. Derek figured they would go there and walk around there for a while, in this small town there really wasn't anywhere else to walk, so the park seemed like a good idea.

Stiles seemed to get the same idea just as it formed in Derek's mind. Of course Stiles wasn't thinking about walking around, he was thinking about what he saw.

"Derek!" Stiles said, holding his hands to his cheeks and looking wide eyed at something that he had his eyes trained to find. "Do you see that baby?!"

Derek looked to where Stiles was looking and saw a young mom going for a jog with her few month old son in a stroller. The baby was asleep, covered in shadow so that his fair skin would not burn. The older male thought the kid was cute, he would have to be heartless to not, but Stiles was full out cooing at the kid even though he was standing far away.

"I see it Stiles."

"I love little kids! They are all so cute! Oh my god, do you see his hands?"

Derek chuckled at Stiles and grabbed the boys arm. He didn't really care that the people around them were now staring at them, but he had thought of a way that he could get Stiles to like him, and he was going to be damned if he didn't try it right away.

…

"Derek, I just don't know if I can come visit you. I really do want to help you get this boy, which is really weird to say since you have always seemed completely straight, but I don't know what I have going on this weekend, much less the rest of the week."

"Laura please, there's something about Stiles, and I know I need to do this soon or I won't be able to hold his attention at all."

Laura sighed into the phone. "Okay baby brother, I'll talk to Henry about it and see when we can get a flight out there. I'm going to try for tonight or tomorrow morning, so if we end up coming out there, it will be very soon."

Derek smiled. "Thank you so much Laura! You have no clue how much this means to me!"

The siblings talked a little bit more about how their lives have shaped up since they parted ways, mainly Derek listening to Laura since he was pretty much doing the same things he had been doing when Laura had left, and soon his sister had to go. The problem with having twins was that she always had something that had to be done, and she didn't ever really have time to talk to people that weren't her son and daughter or her husband.

Minutes after Derek put his phone down on his bedside table and laid back to relax, his phone went off again. It was the ring that Derek had marked for text messages.

_Derek, Stiles and I need a place to crash. Is your house okay?_

It was Scott, but Derek couldn't figure out why they needed a place to crash. Stiles had only just been complaining about how his dad wouldn't be home that night, and Scott's mom surely wouldn't have any problem with the two teenagers staying at her house.

_As long as you tell me why you need a place to crash_

Minutes later, the two boys were walking into the house. They had to have been sitting outside, waiting for Derek to answer if they were there already.

"How are the two of you already here?" Derek asked, knowing the answer already but still finding the need to ask.

Scott shrugged. "We pretty much figured you would let us stay over so we texted you from outside."

"Okay, now onto why you are here in the first place."

"No offer for something to drink or telling us to sit down and relax first?" Stiles said. "Dude, your hospitality is seriously lacking."

Derek just rolled his eyes and didn't say anything. Sometimes, even for Derek, it was a lot easier to just ignore the boy. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Saying that we just wanted to hang with you isn't going to work is it?"

Derek shook his head.

"Well, Stiles' dad and some of his deputies are at his house working on a case and getting drunk and my mom has a book club meeting tonight. We really didn't feel the insane want to hang around with either of those things happening, so we hoped that you would let us stay here."

"Yeah, okay fine. Blankets and pillows and sleeping bags are in that closet," Derek said, pointing to the closet in the corner of the room.

Derek felt his phone vibrate in his pocket where he had put it when he ran into his living area to greet the boys.

_We've got a flight leaving in an hour. See you baby brother._

Derek smiled at the text and looked up to see Stiles and Scott fighting over one of the sleeping bags. This plan of his was working out quite well so far and he hadn't done more than invite Laura out here.

…

When Laura arrives the next morning, Derek is sitting at his table with a cup of coffee in his hands, and Scott and Stiles are sleeping on the living room floor. Derek has been convincing himself all morning that he had not been watching Stiles sleep at all, but fails miserably. He can't help thinking that the boy is so much calmer when he's asleep. He knows that most people are, but Stiles is always in motion. It actually surprised Derek when he noticed that Stiles wasn't moving any more than the normal sleeping human would be.

"Baby brother," Laura said, walking in the door with her daughter in one arm and a baby bag in the other. "It's so nice to see you."

Derek can tell when she sees the two boys sleeping on his floor. He knows that she is at least a little bit suspicious just by the look in her eye. She does not say anything about it, and that surprises Derek. If it had been him, the first thing out of his mouth would be a question as to why there were two teenage boys in his apartment.

"So um, is one of those two Stiles?"

Derek nods and points to Stiles.

"He's cute," she says to him.

"Who's cute?" Stiles mumbles, he obviously doesn't know that there are more people in the room than there had been when he had fallen asleep, otherwise he probably wouldn't have just asked the question. He probably would have jumped. Although, Derek knew Stiles probably would have jumped, and asked the questions. And more questions. And then he probably wouldn't have been able to shut up. Derek wondered if it was bad that he knew with almost complete certainty what the boy would do.

Laura looked pointedly at Derek. "Are you going to let them sleep or wake them up? I would like to meet the boy sometime soon baby brother."

With a sigh, Derek walked over to where the boys were sleeping, and bent over. He knew Laura would be watching him, knew that his sister wasn't going to leave the room, even to put the babies' stuff down, until the two teenagers were awake. More specifically, she wasn't going to leave until Stiles was awake and she had been fully introduced.

"Hey Stiles, Scott," Derek said, leaning over close to the boys, balancing himself with his legs so that he could use both of his arms to shake the two awake, "You guys need to wake up."

The both groaned in sync. Stiles was the one that talked first though, as always. "Why do we have to wake up now?"

"I have some visitors."

Somewhere in Stiles' partly sleeping mind, he seemed to register that Derek had said the word visitor and that that word meant that there were more people in the apartment than there had been when Stiles had fallen asleep.

Stiles sprung up, ending up making himself dizzy from the sudden blood being rushed to his head, and bonked his head right on Derek's. "Holy fuck! Did you really have to stand right there?" the teenager shouted, falling back to the floor, hand pressed firmly against his forehead.

Derek had his hand in the same place Stiles had his, and was silently cursing. He knew there was a baby in the room and Laura would yell at him if one curse word found its way out of his mouth with her baby in the apartment.

Laura's husband walked into the room, holding two zip-lock bags of ice in his hands. He held both of them out to Derek and Derek handed one to Stiles.

"Okay," Stiles said, shaking Scott and holding the ice to his forehead, "Tell me more about these 'visitors'."

Derek gestured behind him when Scott sat up. "That's my sister Laura, her husband Henry, their son Zach, and their daughter Abby."

Derek seriously didn't think that Stiles heard a word he had just said. The boy's eyes were completely zeroed in on the two babies. He didn't nod like he had heard Derek and he didn't start talking like usual, so Derek took it as Stiles hadn't heard him. Derek repeated himself.

"I heard you the first time Derek. Can I hold one of them?"

Laura looked at Derek with a smile, knowing that what Derek had told her over the phone about the teenager liking little kids a lot was obviously true. "Of course you can."

Henry gave Stiles Abby, and Laura gave Scott Zach even though the second teenager hadn't asked to hold the child. She just guessed that he wanted to anyway. She was right, of course, and she knew it as soon as Scott's face lit up.

"So how are you Abby?" Stiles muttered to the child. "I just met your mommy and daddy; I'm guessing their pretty good parents. You and your brother look like you're well fed and dressed and cleaned and all that good stuff. Do you like life so far? You probably do, or at least you probably do as much as a baby can. Everyone says that babies don't realize what's going on when they are babies. I don't know if that's true because obviously I don't remember what happened and you can't tell me because you can't talk. Your uncle is also pretty good, I think under his aloof and broody exterior there is a teddy bear just waiting to burst out. He probably just needs a hug; maybe he needs a baby hug. Baby hugs are almost as good as Stiles hugs."

Stiles continued to talk to the child, and talked to Zach in the same way when he and Scott passed the babies to each other, but Derek didn't really hear a word he said. Stiles thought there was a _teddy bear_ waiting to burst out of him. And he thought he needed a hug. Stiles might have thought that Derek needed a baby hug, but Derek thought he needed a Stiles hug. He thought a Stiles hug would be much better than a baby hug.

The rest of the day passed the same, everyone passed around the babies, played with them and talked to them, they talked to each other, getting to know one another, and none of them noticed how much time had passed until it was two o'clock p.m. and Stiles' phone started going off.

Everyone looked at Stiles when he pulled the device out of his pocket.

"Uh oh," he said, "It's my dad; he thought I was coming home earlier. Probably because I told him that I was going to be."

Stiles and Scott said good-bye to everyone and headed out of the apartment, still wearing the clothes they had been wearing when they arrived the day before.

"Well Derek," Laura said with a smirk, grabbing all of the things she had brought into the apartment only a few hours before, "We should probably get going. I think you made a pretty good impression on Stiles."

…

Right after Laura and Henry had left; Derek had sat down at his kitchen table and put his head in his hands. He wanted to go after Stiles and tell him everything, but how was he supposed to do that though? Was he supposed to just go right to him and blurt it out? That's definitely how Stiles would have done it, but Derek was better at staying silent and letting the others do the talking for him. He knew that how he usually got by was not going to be good enough.

So, he did the only thing he could think of doing; he got into his car and drove to Stiles' house.

When he got there, he was overly thankful to find that the Sheriff wasn't there even though he had texted Stiles to tell him that he needed to get home. This way Derek would be able to go through the door, something he didn't really like doing but would do it because it would give him more time to think of what to say to Stiles.

Derek rang the doorbell.

"Derek? What are you doing here?" Stiles asked him.

Stiles had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a new t-shirt since he had gotten home, but hadn't been able to do anything other than that.

"I need to tell you some things."

"Do you want to come in?"

Derek started nodding, but he ended up just spilling out everything that he had wanted to tell Stiles. There were no pauses, no looking around, and no nervous ums, there was just Derek telling Stiles exactly how he felt and not worrying about how the boy took it. Of course Derek hoped that Stiles would take it well, but he wasn't going to worry about it as it came out of his mouth. All he was going to worry about was that Stiles would be able to follow what he was saying.

Stiles obviously got what Derek said (who would have thought that he wouldn't? he only rambles like that all the time) because the next thing Derek knew, Stiles was throwing himself at Derek, pressing a kiss to the older man's lips.


	2. Chapter 2

The two may have made out a little in front of Stiles' house before going inside. It wasn't like they wanted everyone in the neighborhood to know that they were together, especially since it would probably get back to the Sheriff before Stiles' was able to tell his father. Derek knew that he definitely did not want the Sheriff to find out about him being with Stiles by it getting talked about throughout the town. It would be bad enough when Stiles and Derek told him, gossip would not help.

"So," Stiles said to Derek, ushering him inside after noticing one of his older neighbors staring at them intently, "You want to reiterate what you told me out there? I was so flabbergasted that you were here on your own accord and that you didn't come through my window that I only really caught the end."

Before Derek could say anything, there was a knock at the door. Stiles looked at Derek first, before going to open the door they had just come through, looking like he wasn't sure if he wanted to just ignore the person on the other side or if he wanted to answer them first so that the two of them would not have to worry about hiding out from the other person until they finally decided they didn't need to bother Stiles.

"Hello Mrs. Neer, how are you?" Stiles said, opening the door enough to talk through but not enough where the other person would be able to see to the inside of the house.

"I am just fine Stiles, what I really wanted to know was how you are."

Derek heard Stiles sigh before he heard the teenager answer. "I am just fine, why do you ask?"

"Well, I saw you walk in there with a tall, very handsome young man and wanted to know what that was all about."

And finally the full truth comes out, Derek thought.

"And why would you worry about who I bring into my house?"

Derek was surprised that Stiles only sounded curious and did not sound in the least bit mad. If it had been him talking to the woman and not Stiles, that statement probably would have more a growl than a question.

"Well, your father isn't home and I had never seen the boy before. And one of the other neighbors said something about you and him having a very close moment."

They saw the kiss, Derek thought as his eyes grew in size. They shouldn't have seen the two of them, they shouldn't have been nosy.

"And also Stiles, I hope that you are not going around kissing that boy, which would be very bad of you."

Derek rolled his eyes, really wanting to go outside the house for himself and tell the lady that she shouldn't be getting up in everyone else's business and that she should really just pay attention to her own. Stiles surprised him again by saying something that would have been mean from someone else but just sounded like a question from Stiles.

"Why would it really matter Mrs. Neer?"

There was no answer from the woman before Derek heard her turn around and walk away from the house once again. He assumed the lady had shrugged her shoulders at Stiles' last comment.

When Stiles turned around, shutting the door before doing so, Derek raised his eyebrow.

"I don't really care about her; she thinks everything I do is going to make my dad lose his job. I learned a long time ago to just ignore it, if he hasn't lost it because of my normal shenanigans yet, those aren't going to be the reason he loses it. Back to what you were about to say."

With just that last sentence, Derek knew that the spotlight was on him, he had Stiles' full attention, even if his attention span was a little spotty.

So Derek started from the beginning, awkwardness and all. "At first, when we first met, I seriously thought you were the most annoying person in the world. And for a long time after that, even though I thought I might be opening up to you a little more, you were still this annoying high school kid. You talked a lot, you never sat still, and you were always off topic. We would be at pack meetings and you would just drive my wolf senses into overdrive. Every little move you made would make me want to jump on you, and don't smirk 'cause it would not have been good, and probably tear your throat out with my teeth. And you would always interrupt what I was saying or you would mutter weird things just to see if the wolves would say anything. Or maybe you were just talking to Scott and didn't think about the fact that you were in a room with a bunch of werewolves that could hear every single word that you said. Then, after a while and one of our closer scares with the evil supernatural, I felt something…weird. And don't look at me with a look that means you think what I just was adorable, it really wasn't. I was really starting to warm up to you, wanted to be near you more, and I thought that it was just because you were my pack and I was supposed to feel that way. But I didn't feel the same way for the others that I did for you. So I started climbing into your bedroom window to see if you would say anything. Every time I saw you I could tell you felt different but I didn't know if it was increasing hatred, especially after I almost had Lydia killed, or if you were starting to feel the same way that I had been feeling for a long time. After a while I really started hoping for the latter. You sort of became my obsession after a while, which I'm not really proud to say, again. That's when I started watching you more and noticed that you liked little kids and that you were really good with them." Derek took a deep breath, having rushed through all of that once again. He noticed that Stiles was still keeping up with him, or at least Stiles was acting like he was still keeping up. Derek wasn't sure but he decided to just keep going and answer questions after he was done. " I had happened to talk to Laura about coming over for a visit and I was trying to come up with a way to get you to come over at the same time when she would have shown up when Scott texted me saying that you guys needed a place to crash for the night. Really, I couldn't believe how lucky I had been, especially when Laura then told me that they would be coming." Derek looked down at the ground as a red, foreign blush creeped up his cheeks. "By then, I had pretty much figured out everything. I had a crush on you, and my wolf did too."

Stiles' eyes were wide, pretty much telling Derek that he had no clue what to say. This was a feat all in itself since no one was ever able to get Stiles to shut up.

The first few moments of Stiles' silence were okay, Derek knew that Stiles had already heard that once before and had kissed him, but after that Derek started feeling a little nervous. What if Stiles' initial reaction had been shock or something? What if the teenager hadn't meant to kiss him? What if Stiles had been expecting someone else? Derek gulped at the thought.

When Stiles got up out of his seat at the table, Derek wasn't paying attention. By the look on his face, Stiles' assumed that Derek was thinking about something pretty intense. Stiles really didn't even want to think about what the were wolf could have been thinking about, he doubted himself enough that he really didn't need to doubt himself on this. Not one thought that seemed to put down his actions would be let out through his mind, or his mouth. What Stiles needed to do now was act on impulse, to not over think what he was going to do. He could be impulsive; he was quite good at that sometimes.

Trying not to think about what was happening and the far-away look on Derek's face, Stiles moved over to stand in front of the werewolf. Stiles put his hands on either side of Derek's face, pulling his head so he was looking up at him. The far-away look went away and was taken over by something that looked like a smile. He couldn't be quite sure, Derek never really smiled.

"Stiles, you do understand what I just told you right? About my wolf?"

"Of course I do Derek," the teenager said, taking one hand off of Derek's cheeks and taking his index finger to run it lightly down Derek's jawline. "I get what you said, it was pretty clear even the first time you said it."

"And you still want to be this close to me?"

"It's not like you are going to hurt me Derek."

"There's always a possibility Stiles."

Stiles didn't look Derek in the eyes; he focused on where his index finger was trailing along the older man's hair line. He made a noise that sounded very noncommittal to Derek, the kind of noise someone makes when they are too distracted or don't feel like using the energy to say 'yeah right'. Derek got the feeling that that was what Stiles was trying to say. He wanted to fight the teen and tell him that there was a chance that one day in the future he could get hurt because of Derek. And he wasn't going to promise that it would be because of the Alpha coming too close to the surface, there was always the chance that Derek would mess up what could possibly be the best thing in his life by uttering just a few words or performing one simple action. He didn't want to hurt Stiles, Alpha or not. He could pretty much promise that he would do more damage to himself than the Sheriff could even think of doing to him.

"Hey Derek," Stiles said, finally actually looking at the werewolf, "Is this going to give me any sort of seniority in the pack?"

Derek had to think about that question, he really hadn't been around a pack where seniority meant anything in a long time. He supposed being a mate would give you some sort of seniority but what would it give Stiles if they hadn't yet mated and his pack was still very young and none of them really knew anything about how a pack worked? They were all getting better, Derek included, but he wasn't sure how everyone would react to learning that he and Stiles were doing anything with each other. He had to think back to his parents and his pack, his first pack, even though it hurt him to do so. From the stories he had heard about his parents, he knew that his dad had been picked to be the next Alpha from a young age but he hadn't been Alpha when he and Derek's mom had gotten together. Did that mean the seniority didn't come with being a mate? Sometimes Derek hated it that he didn't already know this stuff. He hadn't been trained to be Alpha, Laura had, but Laura had fallen for someone who hadn't known about werewolves or pack dynamics and had chosen to leave the pack instead of telling her mate right away.

"Stiles, I'm really not sure. It really depends on how everyone in the pack acts once they find out about us."

Stiles sat down in Derek's lap, acting like he had expected that kind of answer, and put his head down on the older male's shoulder. "Okay, I can deal with that. Um, Derek?"

Derek nodded.

"Before we get into telling the pack and figuring out what our little mating thing will entail, do you think we should tell my dad about everything?"

"What do you mean by everything? I'm assuming you don't just mean you want to tell him about us."

Stiles shook his head. "No, I mean that I think we should tell him everything. Like when Scott became a werewolf and how all of the mountain lion attacks were really werewolves and all of the other werewolf business. And then we should probably tell him about us too."

"Okay."

"Okay? You do realize that my dad is probably going to first want to kill you for all the werewolf stuff and then he is probably going to threaten you with guns, that we have multiple of in this house at this very moment, if you hurt me?"

"Yeah, I realize."

"And you're okay with this?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you are probably leading yourself to your funeral, or at least planning your funeral, but whatever."


End file.
